This invention relates to an improved fitting for drainage systems and more particularly relates to a vent or drain guard.
In the past, drain and vent guards have been provided which were adapted to receive or be mounted on the upper end of a drain pipe or stack to protect the drain or stack against the ingress of foreign substances while facilitating access thereto by a plunger or "snake", if necessary. An example of such a prior art drain or vent guard is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,577,464 issued to Joseph High. This reference discloses a guard which includes a tubular body having a sleeve-like portion terminating in a bell of flared portion with a grid positioned on the top thereof for permitting the ingress and egress of fluids with respect thereto. An annular flange is formed about the junction of the sleeve-like portion and the flared portion against which the upper edge of a stack or drain is seated. The drain guard is fixed to the stack or drain by means of okum and lead which, as is known in the art, has a number of drawbacks. Thus, the okum and lead form a trap basin for water and sediment bacteria to accumulate, thus creating possible health hazards to those in the vicinity of the guard. Further, the use of lead and okum necessitates melting of lead and limits the types of materials which may be used to form the drain or vent guard and in addition, in areas such as roofs and in chemical laboratories, the process of heating the lead is prohibitive thereby requiring more complex vent guard configurations to be used. Another drawback to the High vent guard is that the process of affixing the guard to a drain pipe or vent stack takes considerable time because of the requirement of melting the lead and positioning the lead and okum in the guard.
It therefore is an object of this invention to provide an improved vent guard.
It is another object of this invention to provide a drain or vent guard which can be easily installed on location without requiring the heating or melting of sealing compounds.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved drain or vent guard which can be easily and efficiently positioned on a drain pipe or vent stack.